1. Field of the Invention
Recipients of blood and blood components risk acquiring infections from pathogenic microorganisms, either pre-existing in the blood at the time of collection or transmitted to the blood product during manipulation. Medical personnel who are in contact with collected human blood or clinical samples also have a significant chance of being exposed to potentially lethal blood-borne or sample-borne organisms. Blood components today are obtained from blood donors and frequently involve pooled lots, where one or more of the donors may be harboring a viral, bacterial or other infection. Since the blood or blood components are required to provide physiological functions in a mammalian host, normally a human host, these functions must not be impaired by the decontamination treatment of the biological composition. In addition, the blood or blood components may not be modified in such a way as to make them immunogenic which could result in an adverse immune response. Finally, any treatment should not leave residues or products detrimental to the health of the host or such residues or products should be readily removable.
2. Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,327,086 describes a method for heat treating an aqueous solution containing human blood coagulation factor XIII. U.S. Pat. No. 4,321,919 proposes extracorporeal treatment of human blood with 8-methoxypsoralen (8-MOP) and ultraviolet light. Hyde and Hearst, Biochemistry (1978) 17: 1251-1257, describe the binding of two psoralen derivatives to DNA and chromatin. Musajo et al., Experientia (1965) XXI, 22-24, describe photo-inactivation of DNA-containing viruses with photosensitizing furocoumarins. See also, Hanson et al. (1978) J. Gen. Virol. 40: 345-358; Swanstrom et al. (1981) Virol. 113: 613-622; Redfield et al. (1981) Infec. and Immun. 32: 1216-1226; Hanson (1983) "Inactivation of Viruses for Use as Vaccines and Immunodiagnostic Reagents" in Medical Virology II, de al Maza and Peterson, eds., and Cremer et al. (1982) J. Clin. Microbiol. 15: 815-823, each of which describe viral inactivation by exposure to ultraviolet radiation in the presence of furocoumarins.
Some data showing substantial impairment of the biological function of certain enzyme proteins using furocoumarins are published in the scientific literature (see for example, Veronese, F. M. et al., Photochem. Photobiol. 34: 351 (1981); Veronese, F. M. et al., Photochem. Photobiol. 36: 25 (1982)). Singh and Vadasz (1978) Photochem. Photobiol. 28: 539-545 attribute the photoinactivation of E. coli ribosomes by ultraviolet radiation in the presence of furocoumarins to the presence of singlet oxygen.